Rolling stand, particularly for shaping a cast bar immediately upon leaving a continuous casting plant, and rolling mill

ABSTRACT

A unitized construction system for rolling stand assemblies and rolling mills, particularly intended for shaping cast bars immediately upon leaving a continuous casting plant, is proposed. In the rolling stand assemblies of the invention, which are mounted on base frames or baseplates, the rolling stand, or the rolling stand with part of its driving gear system, is vertically removably mounted on the base frame or plate, the driving gear system, or a part thereof, is detachably mounted on the base frame or plate, and the base frame or plate is vertically removably mounted on the base so that either the base frame or plate together with the driving gear system or with part thereof is removable from the base following removal of the rolling stand or of the rolling stand with part of the driving gear system, or the base frame or plate together with the rolling stand and the driving gear system is vertically removable as a compact unit. The multibar rolling mill comprises several adjacent trains of such rolling stand assemblies having base plates and base frames uniformly dimensioned with respect to the size of the rolling stands, so that they can be interconnected to structural units up to the size of the entire rolling mill.

United States Patent Hinterholzl 5) Mar. 7, 1972 [54] ROLLING STAND, PARTICULARLY FOR SHAPING A CAST BAR IMMEDIATELY UlPON LEAVING A CONTINUOUS CASTING PLANT, AND

ROLLING MILL [72] Inventor: Ernst Hinterholzl, Linz, Austria [73] Assignee: Vereinigte Osterreichische Elsen-und Stahlwerke Aktiengesellsehaft, Linz, Austria [22] Filed: July 24, 1969 [21] Appl. No.2 844,322

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Apr. 23, 1969 Austria, ..A 3912/69 [52] [1.8. CL ..72/238, 72/249 [51] Int. Cl. .B2lb 31/08, B2lb 35/00 [58] Field ofSearch ..72/238, 239, 249

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,513,058 6/1950 Sheperdson et a1 ..72/249 Primary Examiner-Francis S. Husar Attorney-Brumbaugh, Graves, Donohue & Raymond 57] ABSTRACT A unitized construction system for rolling stand assemblies and rolling mills, particularly intended for shaping cast bars immediately upon leaving a continuous casting plant, is proposed. In the rolling stand assemblies of the invention, which are mounted on base frames or baseplates, the rolling stand, or the rolling stand with part of its driving gear system, is vertically removably mounted on the base frame or plate, the driving gear system, or a part thereof, is detachably mounted on the base frame or plate, and the base frame or plate is vertically removably mounted on the base so that either the base frame or plate together with the driving gear system or with part thereof is removable from the base following removal of the rolling stand or of the rolling stand with part of the driving gear system, or the base frame or plate together with the rolling stand and the driving gear system is vertically removable as a compact unit. The multibar rolling mill comprises several adjacent trains of such rolling stand assemblies having base plates and base frames uniformly dimensioned with respect to the size of the rolling stands, so that they can be interconnected to structural units up to the size of the entire rolling mill.

7Claims,8DrawingFigures PATENTEDMAR 71972 3.646.795

sum 1 OF 5 INVENTOR.

Eeus Murat H61 2 L M ATTORIVE Ys PATENTEDHAR 7 I972 SHEET 3 BF 5 11 IIII I] 1 N VENT OR. ERMST l/mlrse uLzz.

m5 ATTORNEYS SHEET 5 [IF 5 FIG. 7

PATENTEDHAR 7 I972 INVENTOR. ERA/5T f/INTE mSLzL m5 An-oemsys ROLLING STAND, PARTICULARLY FOR SHAPING A CAST BAR IMMEDIATELY UPON LEAVING A CONTINUOUS CASTING PLANT, AND ROLLING MILL The present invention relates to a rolling stand arranged on a base frame or a baseplate, in particular for shaping a cast bar immediately upon leaving a continuous casting plant as well as a rolling mill with several trains of stands arranged side by side.

The problem with continuous casting plants, in particular with multibar continuous casting plants is to arrange the rolling stands used for further shaping of the castings subsequent to the casting process so as to save most space. The aim is to achieve the closest possible side-by-side arrangement of the rolling stands so that the tundish located above the continuous casting molds may be small and any loss in temperature of the liquid steel kept at a minimum. The individual rolling stands have also to be placed in the closest possible tandem arrangement. Due to the low casting speed in continuous casting the feed speed of the casting in the rolling stands is much smaller than with conventional rolling trains, resulting in an undesirably high loss in temperature in the casting to be shaped in case of considerable distances between the individual rolling stands. The compact structure of the rolling stands makes roll changing rather difficult and time consuming. As rolling stands following continuous casting plants cannot work independently from the casting and melting operations, any roll changing must be carried out as quickly as possible in case of a change of the rolling program or repairs so that the metallurgical operations will remain unaffected.

The compact structure of the rolling stands requires an at least partial below-floor arrangement of the roll drive. This adds to the problems of accessibility for maintenance or repair works. It has, so far, not been possible in case of repairs to make use of a unitized construction with its small number of structural members and spare parts. A steel mill suffers always from a lack of room and from the intensified effect of dust and heat. It is, therefore, desirable to repair and maintain the highduty installations outside the foundry plant and to install fully assembled and adjusted rolling stands and drive parts as quickly and simply as possible.

The present invention aims at avoiding the disadvantages and difficulties described and solves the given problems by a combination of the following features:

a. the rolling stand or the rolling stand with part of its driving gear system, respectively, is detachable from the base frame or the baseplate, respectively, and is vertically removable therefrom;

b. the driving gear system or part of the driving gear system, respectively, of the rolling stand is detachably mounted on the base frame or the base plate, respectively, and

c. the base frame or the baseplate, respectively, is detachably mounted on the base and vertically removable therefrom;

so that either the base frame or plate together with the driving gear system or with part of the driving gear system, respectively, is removable from the base upon removal of the rolling stand or of the rolling stand with part of the driving gear system, or the base frame or plate together with the rolling stand, and the driving gear is vertically removable as a compact unit.

The external dimension of the rolling stand measured perpendicular to the roll gap is preferably twice as large as the one measured in the roll gap plane, so that this rolling stand can be installed and operated without any structural changes with vertical as well as with horizontal rolls, the fixing to the base frame or plate being effected by clamping devices acting therefrom, said clamping devices engaging a roll support or a rigid cross connection thereof, respectively, and being readily releasable.

Suitably centering devices for the rolling stand or for the rolling stand and part of the driving gear system, respectively, as well as centering devices for fixation on the base through centering bolts fixed to the latter are provided on the base frame or plate.

The present inventionfurthermore comprises a rolling mill characterized in that each base frame or plate has a uniform length a and a uniform width b, the dimension a substantially corresponding, on the one hand, to the distance between the cast bars and being, on the other hand proportional to and slightly larger than the external dimension a of the rolling stand perpendicular to the roll gap, and the roll pass axes of the cast bars lying respectively at the distance 0/2 from the margins of the individual base frames or at the distance 0/4 from the margins of the individual baseplates.

The base frames or plates may be rigidly connected with each other.

Suitably several base frames and baseplates, respectively,- arranged side by side are rigidly connected with each other so that they form structural units, or several base plates in tandem arrangement are connected with several intermediate base frames to form rigid structural units.

According to a further embodiment of the present invention all the base frames or plates or the structural units built therefrom, respectively, may be rigidly connected with each other and form a compact structural unit, so that the entire rolling mill consisting of the rolling stands, the gears and the drives may, upon release of the anchor screws, be vertically removed from the base.

In order that the invention may be more fully understood it will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. I shows a side view of a continuous casting plant with shaping stands for the casting.

FIG. 2 a top plan view below the line lI-II of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 show simplified and not-true-to-scalei presentations of the various phases of the removal of a rolling,

stand with vertical and horizontal rolls as well as of the pertinent base frames or baseplates, respectively, of the transmission gears and drives.

FIG. 5 is a simplified plan view of the entire rolling mill.

FIG. 6 a side view of several rolling stands with horizontal rolls arranged side by side.

FIG. 7 a similar view of a series of rolling stands with vertical rolls.

FIG. 8 a side view of a rolling train comprising a number of stands in tandem with alternating vertical and horizontal rolls as well as of the drives suspended in the base pit.

Liquid steel is poured from a stopper ladle I into one or two tundishes 2 and from there into several-e.g., four-continuous casting molds 3, 4, 5, 6. The cast bars pass a curved secondary cooling line 11, l2, l3, l4 and are subsequently cogged down in units l5, I9, 15, 19' or 16, 20, 16', 20', respectively, and so on. The shaped bars 7', 8', 9', l0 proceed along roller tables 23, 24, 25, 26 to the dividing means and the like.

FIG. 3 shows a rolling stand 27 with vertical grooved rolls 28, 29 displaceably arranged together with their inserts within the roll supports 30, 31 in a position removed from the'base frame 36; arrows indicate the direction of motion. The external dimension a measured perpendicular to the roll gap is twice as large as the external dimension measured in the roll gap plane, designated by a'/2. Within the rolling stand the rolls are symmetrically arranged, i.e., the roll gap is approximately inthe center of the rolling stand. The roll supports 30, 31 are on one side rigidly connected by a cross connection 32 and on the other side by a detachable cap connection 33. The roll shafts are designated by the numerals 34, 35.

FIG. 3 shows also a base frame 36 which has been vertically removed in the direction of the arrows from the base 43 and consists of two parts having a cross connection 37. Within the base frame 36 there are horizontally movable transmission gears'38, 39, which cooperate with the roll shafts 34, 35 as well as with the driving gear 41. Centering devices 45, 46 for the rolling stand 27 are located on the base frame 36. Below the base frame 36 the driving gear 41 is aligned and fixed to the cross connection 37 by the centering devices 49, 50.

FIG. 3 shows also the drive 40 after the driving gear 41 has been downwardly removed in the direction of the arrows, following the lifting of the base frame 36. The :motor 42 is flanged to the driving gear 41 and forms togetherwith the latter the drive 40.

FIG. 3 shows furthermore the base pit 44, wherein the drive 40 is suspended when the base frame 36 restson the base 43, to which it is fixed by the centering bolts 51, 52which fit into the corresponding guides 47, 48and secured by anchor screws.

When in operation, each installation 19, 20, 21, 22, 19', 20, 21', 22' consists of a rolling stand 27, a base frame 36, the transmission gears 38, 39 and the drive 40. The drawings show that--upon release of the anchor screws-the entire installation 19, 20 etc. is vertically removable from the base 43 as a compact unit. When it is being assembled, each installation 19, 20 etc. is accurately fixed in the direction of rolling by the centering bolts 51, 52 and the corresponding guides 47, 48, without any time-consuming alignment operations. When the rolling stand is designed for a maximum bar cross section of 250 X 250 mm. the length of the base frame a is approximately 2,000 mm. The length a somewhat exceeds the external dimension a of the rolling stand 27 which amounts to approximately 1,800 mm. The width b of the base frame (FIG. is

somewhatless than a and amounts to approximately 1,700 mm. The diameter of the grooved rolls 28, 29 is approximately 600 mm.

FIG. 4 is a similar presentation as FIG. 3, yet for a rolling stand 27 with horizontal grooved rolls 53, 54. The rolling stand proper is designed like the one in FIG. 3, which means that the rolling stands are interchangeable at will without any structural changes. The rolling stands are fixed to thebase frame 36 or the baseplate 59, respectively, by clamping devices, not shown, secured thereto, which act from below on the roll support 31 or the rigid cross connection 32, respectively, andtogether with the centering devices 45, 46 or 60, 61, respectively, effect a readily releasable connection of the rolling stand 27 with the base frame 36 or the baseplate 59. FIG. 4 shows a rolling stand 27, which is, together with part 55 of the gear system, vertically removed from the baseplate 59. Saidgearing 55 consists of the transmission. gears 56, 57, which are detachablefrom the roll shafts 34, 35 as compact units and connected with each other through a vertical drive shaft 58. i

The baseplate 59 is provided with centering devices 60, 61 for the rolling stand 27, centering devices 61, 62 for the gearing 55, centering devices 65, 66 for the drive 71 and centering devices. 63, 64 for fixation on the base 74 by the centering bolts 69, 70. The drive 71, which consists of the driving gear 72 and the motor 73 flanged thereto, is provided with centering devices 67, 68 for its fixation below the baseplate 59.

When'in operation, each installation l5, l6, 17, 18, 16', 17, 18', consists thus of a rolling stand 27, a baseplate 59, the gearing 55, and the drive 71.

FIG. 5 shows the arrangement of the four rolling trains for the shaping of the cast bars 7, 8, 9, 10, whose distance corresponds roughly to the dimension a. The base frames 36 as well as the baseplates 59 have identical external dimensionsa and b-resulting in an overall space required for the entire rolling mill of 4a 4b, neglecting minor safety distances. With a continuous casting plant designed for four cast bars with a cross section of 250 X 250 mm. each, the size 4aX4b amounts to approximately 60 m which illustrates the extraordinarily compact structure. With said installation the distance of the roll pass axes of the individual cast bars from the respective edges of the baseplates is a/4 and from the respective edges of the base frames a/2, again neglecting minor safety distances.

FIG. 6 shows the side-by-side arrangement of several stands 27 with parts 55 of the gear systems on a structural unit 76 consisting of four baseplates 59, which are rigidly interconnected by screws 81. Said structural unit 76 carries thus four rolling stands with horizontal rolls together with their transmission gears and drives and can, upon release of the anchor screws, be vertically removed from the base 77 and the base pit 78, respectively, as a compact unit.

FIG. 7 shows a structural unit 79 for four rolling stands 27 with vertical rolls, which consists of four base frames 36 rigidly connected by screws 81.

FIG. 8 shows a structural unit 80 with twov baseplates 59 and two base frames 36, which are rigidly interconnected by screws 81; the structural unit comprises four rolling stands 27 in tandem, with alternating horizontal and vertical rolls. Together with the gears 55, 38, 39 and the drives 40, 71 it isas a compact unit-vertically removable from the base 77 and the base pit 78, respectively. 1

Provided that the overall weight of the rolling mill'does not exceed reasonable limits, it is possible to rigidly connect either all the base frames 36 with the baseplates 59, or all the-structural units 76 with the structural units 79, or interconnect the structural units 80, so that the entire rolling mill, consisting of the rolling stands 27, the gears 55, 38, 39 and the drives 40, 71 v is vertically removable as a unit.

What 1 claim is:

l. A rolling mill for shaping a number of metal bars supplied in parallel, comprising, in side by side and tandem arrangement on a base, a plurality of rolling stand assemblies each composed of a rolling stand with a vertical pair of rolls, a gearcontaining base frame, and a drive arranged as vertically separable exchangeable units, and a plurality of rolling stand assemblies each composed of a gear-supporting rolling stand with a horizontal pair of rolls, a baseplate, and a drive arranged as vertically separable exchangeable units, said base frames and baseplates having unifonn lengths a and uniform widths b, a substantially corresponding, on the one hand, to the distance between two adjacent bars and being, on the other hand, proportional to and slightly larger than the external dimension of said rolling stands measured perpendicular to the roll gap, and the roll pass axes of said bars lying respectively at a distance of a2 from the margins of said base frames and at a distance of a/4 from the margins of said baseplates.

2. The rolling mill set forth in claim 1 wherein a series of base frames and a series of base plates are rigidly connected.

3. The rolling mill set forth in claim 1 wherein several base frames and baseplates, respectively, arranged side-by-side are rigidly connected with each other so as to form structural units.

4. The rollingmill set forth in claim 1 wherein several baseplates in tandem arrangement are rigidly connected with several intermediate base frames to form structural units.

5. The rolling mill set forth in claim 1 wherein all base frames and baseplates are rigidly connected to form a compact structural unit so that the entire rolling mill including said roll stands, gears, and drives can be vertically removed from said base. i I

6. A rolling stand assembly for shaping rolling stock comprising a base,

a foundation detachably mounted on and vertically removable from the base,

a rolling stand containing a pair of rolls defining a roll gap, the rolling stand detachably mounted on and vertically removable from the foundation and comprising acagelike frame whose external dimension measured perpendicular to the plane of the roll gap is twice as large as the one measured in said plane, and g i drive means for driving the rolls of the rolling stand, the drive means detachably mounted below and vertically removable from the foundation,

whereby the rolling stand, foundation and drive means are vertically removable from the base as divisible structural units.

7. The rolling stand assembly set forth in claim 6 furthercomprising clamping means to releasably secure the rolling stand to the foundation.

inn 

1. A rolling mill for shaping a number of metal bars supplied in parallel, comprising, in side by side and tandem arrangement on a base, a plurality of rolling stand assemblies each composed of a rolling stand with a vertical pair of rolls, a gear-containing base frame, and a drive arranged as vertically separable exchangeable units, and a plurality of rolling stand assemblies each composed of a gear-supporting rolling stand with a horizontal pair of rolls, a baseplate, and a drive arranged as vertically separable exchangeable units, said base frames and baseplates having uniform lengths a and uniform widths b, a substantially corresponding, on the one hand, to the distance between two adjacent bars and being, on the other hand, proportional to and slightly larger than the external dimension of said rolling stands measured perpendicular to the roll gap, and the roll pass axes of said bars lying respectively at a distance of a2 from the margins of said base frames and at a distance of a/4 from the margins of said baseplates.
 2. The rolling mill set forth in claim 1 wherein a series of base frames and a series of base plates are rigidly connected.
 3. The rolling mill set forth in claim 1 wherein several base frames and baseplates, respectively, arranged side-by-side are rigidly connected with each other so as to form structural units.
 4. The rolling mill set forth in claim 1 wherein several baseplates in tandem arrangement are rigidly connected with several intermediate base frames to form structural units.
 5. The rolling mill set forth in claim 1 wherein all base frames and baseplates are rigidly connected to form a compact structural unit so that the entire rolling mill including said roll stands, gears, and drives can be vertically removed from said base.
 6. A rolling stand assembly for shaping rolling stock comprising a base, a foundation detachably mounted on and vertically removable from the base, a rolling stand containing a pair of rolls defining a roll gap, the rolling stand detachably mounted on and vertically removable from the foundation and comprising a cagelike frame whose external dimension measured perpendicular to the plane of the roll gap is twice as large as the one measured in said plane, and drive means for driving the rolls of the rolling stand, the drive means detachably mounted below and vertically removable from the foundation, whereby the rolling stand, foundation and drive means are vertically removable from the base as divisible structural units.
 7. The rolling stand assembly set forth in claim 6 further comprising clamping means to releasably secure the rolling stand to the foundation. 